Lost One
by MewShiny
Summary: Shinichi lost his memories on the day that he shrank. Ran found the young looking boy and though various twists of fate he's now living with her and her mother, but soon they learn that there is more to this boy than meets the eye.
1. Something lost and Something gained

**Mushi Mushi this is Kira-chan with another new story. Justin44 asked me to write this story (though he's handling basic plotting I'm pretty much just narrating and making it run more smoothly) and obviously I agreed to do it. It's a bit different from the stories that I usually write but there are some future plot developments with the potential to be very interesting, so there's definitely something for you to look forward to.  
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**Figure I may as well say this now: Neither I nor Justin-kun own Dectective Conan/Case Closed and that is a fact that probably won't be changing in the future... but if it does I'll be sure to brag about it.**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter, whether you do or don't please review at the bottom anyway, it doesn't really take that much effort.**

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**Chapter 1: Something lost and something gained**

Looking at the young boy as he lay in the hospital bed I could hardly believe that it'd already been three days since I'd found him. He looked to be about five or six... maybe seven. He hadn't woken up since the day I'd found him but every time I looked at him I couldn't help but think of Shinichi since the boy's face looked so similar to his.

It was so strange, the day I found this boy was the same day that Shinichi had disappeared... at this point I was even entertaining the thought that maybe something strange had happened and this boy was Shinichi, but that was ridiculous. There was no way... right?

Still it's kind of suspicious that I wound up finding this boy when I went in the direction I'd last seen Shinichi go.

I'd been looking for Shinichi you see, I'd had a very bad feeling about just letting Shinichi run off that night at Tropical land so pretty soon after I decided to look for him... that's when I found this little boy laying in the grass. The clothes he was wearing were far to big for him... actually they looked almost the same as the clothes that Shinichi had been wearing that day, but I hadn't really paid any attention to that at the time because it was clear that he wasn't in very good shape.

I could feel him shaking as I carefully picked him up. He felt so hot that for a moment all the attention that I'd put towards worrying about Shinichi melted away and I could only focus on getting the boy to a hospital, or anywhere else where they would be able to take care of him.

Thankfully it wasn't too long before I managed find somewhere that I could call an ambulance, and it wasn't much longer before it had arrived.

"Are you this boy's sister?" The paramedic asked, as they situated him on the in-ambulance bed.

"No ma`am... I only found him," I shook my head, "but, could I please come along?"

It was a pretty silly request, I half expected the paramedic to tell me that I couldn't after all I didn't even know this boy, I had no connections to him at all and no real reason to want to ride to the hospital with him, but I just felt compelled to come along. However the paramedic just gave me an understanding smile and replied, "Of course you can young miss."

It was during that ride with him in the ambulance that I'd noticed just how much the boy looked like Shinichi, and just how strange his clothes were.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew that there was no way that it was a coincidence, that this boy might be Shinichi or at the very least had something to do with Shinichi's disappearance, but I didn't want to think about that. Instead I just held onto the no doubt mistaken impression that he was just an ordinary boy.

It's amazing just how quickly I've become attached to the boy without even knowing his name, or even having spoken to him. In these past three days I've visited him at the hospital whenever I could but he's remained unconscious the entire time.

No one knows who he is either. There are no records of anyone similar to him in the hospital database, there are no reports of anyone matching his description going missing recently, and even dad can't seem to find any traces of the boy. It's almost like he never even existed to begin with, like he just randomly fell out of the sky that day or something.

I couldn't help but think that he was going to be very lonely when he eventually woke up, that's why I tried to stay with him when I could. What would he think when he woke up in this unfamiliar place and didn't see anyone that he recognized? I was starting to think that maybe I should adopt him myself, just so he'd have somewhere to go once he'd gotten out of the hospital... though I doubt that dad would approve without much pushing.

I was snapped out of my thoughts when I heard some shifting in the hospital bed in front of me. For a second I couldn't believe my eyes, the boy was moving, he was awake!

"Hello," I said, smiling broadly in hopes that a smile was all it would take to keep him from being scared, "My name is Mouri Ran, what's your name little boy?"

He opened his mouth to answer but then closed it again and furrowed his brow, he looked confused and a little bit sad. I began to worry that maybe his mouth had dried out and he couldn't speak but then he opened his mouth again, "I... I don't know."

That caught me off guard. He didn't know who he was either? If that was true... amnesia maybe? I figured it be best to at least let the doctor know he'd woken up, maybe he'd be able to do something.

"I'll be right back," I said as I got up to leave.

"Wait," he said, stopping me in my tracks, "who are you... to me?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Sorry...you introduced yourself... so I guess you don't know me..." He replied, "but... you just kind of look familiar so I thought... maybe I knew you."

It seemed like a pretty strange thing for a child to be saying but I thought nothing of it at the time. For some reason I smiled, "I'll go get the doctor now, I'll be back soon, how about we talk after the doctor makes sure you're okay?"

"Ok..." He stated, sounding a bit disappointed as I left the room.

I soon returned with a doctor to check on the boy's condition. Before going back into the room I told the doctor that the boy hadn't been able to remember his own name yet had been able to talk somewhat normally. The doctor made a concerned expression, I guess he must have come to the same conclusion I had about the boy probably having amnesia.

Upon our entering the room the nameless boy turned to look at the doctor and I interestedly. After a quick introduction the doctor told the boy that he was going to ask the boy a few questions and that he should answer whatever he could, to which the boy nodded.

"What's your name?" The doctor asked, probably to confirm what I'd told him before.

The boy frowned a bit before shyly answering, "I don't know..."

"That's alright, I'm sure we'll find out who you are eventually," The doctor reassured him, "How about this, what does five plus ten equal?"

"Fifteen," The child replied as if completely on reflex.

"Good, then what's the capital of Japan?"

"Tokyo," he answered without even a moments hesitation.

The doctor continued to ask about random trivia witch increased in difficulty as he went on though only slightly for the next ten or so minutes, occasionally tossing out a question such as 'what's your favorite food?' or 'do you like the anime Kamen Yaiba?' but the boy was unable to answer such questions and always answered with 'I don't know' or 'I can't remember', unlike the trivia which he was always able to answer right away.

After all of this the doctor had to run various tests to check the boy's stamina, heart rate, x-rays, and other similar things. It would probably bore you if I told about all of that in great detail, so I'll skip ahead to the results.

"Aside from his amnesia this boy is in wonderful shape," The doctor reported, telling me because I'd come to be seen as the nameless boy's pseudo-guardian because I was the only person besides the hospital staff who seemed to show him any concern.

Apparently all physical signs that anything was wrong with the boy were gone, the fever he'd had on the night I'd brought him in had vanished, and despite having apparently hit his head on something very hard he didn't have a single bump or bruise. If not for his amnesia and the mystery that was his identity the hospital would have no reason to keep him.

"Is there any chance he might get his memory back?" I asked.

"There's no way of knowing, I'm afraid," The doctor replied, "He was hit on the head pretty hard, that much we know for sure, but we don't know if the blow was what had caused him to lose his memory. It's possible that he had some sort of traumatic experience that caused him to seal away his memory... if that's the case it's possible that he'll regain his memory. But we won't know for sure unless that happens."

"Oh I see," I replied not really sure what else to say. All was quite for a moment, and I realized that there was still something I needed to say, "So... what are you going to be doing about him, we don't know who he is or anything so it's not like his parents are going to be showing up anytime soon..."

"We'll probably leave him in the care of an orphanage, if his parents were looking for him your father probably would have heard something about it by now," The doctor answered, "If you'd like you and your father could probably adopt him, as it is you seem to be the closest thing he has to family right now."

Actually I had been thinking about adopting him, but like I said before I doubted that my dad would approve, not to mention we didn't really have enough money to be taking care of a little kid. Sure dad got cases every now and then but he almost always blew our money on horse races and alcohol, I wouldn't want to subject a child to that... but I don't want them to just send him off to an orphanage either.

Oh, what should I do? Shinichi would know, he would be able to tell me whether or not I'm actually prepared to take care of this kid... but Shinichi isn't here right now! I wouldn't want to rely on him anyway.

"I'd really like that."

Maybe I felt sad that the boy would end up in an orphanage or something if I didn't adopt him, maybe it's because I saw the boy as a mini-Shinichi, maybe I'd grown more attached to him than I'd thought. I'm not really sure what came over me, but I don't regret it. Not one bit.

"I'd thought you might," The doctor replied with a bit of a chuckle, "I'll have a nurse bring you the necessary papers, you'll just have to get your father to fill them out."

"Right, I'll do that," I nodded, "... can go ahead I take him home today?"

The doctor seemed to think about it for a while before answering, "Well... normally we wouldn't release a child into the custody of anyone but their guardian's but since you're planning to adopt him I guess we can make an exception just this once."

"Really? Thank you," I replied, bowing to show my gratefulness that the boy wouldn't have to spend another night at the hospital.

Naturally I returned home with the boy right away seeing no reason to delay any more than necessary... I was a bit nervous though, what would I do if Dad wouldn't let me adopt him? This was the deciding moment wasn't it?

I walked through the door holding the boy's hand, carrying the still unsigned adoption papers with my free hand, "I'm home, Dad."

"Oh welcome back," He replied, "What's for din..."

He trailed off as he noticed the young boy. Dad's expression became somewhat angry, enough that the boy tried to inch behind my leg a just a little. I could feel the boy shaking though I got the feeling he had hoped I wouldn't notice, he must've been nervous too, nervous and scared.

"What's that brat doing in my house?!"

I guess he definitely didn't want to keep the boy. Well that's too bad, I have no intention of giving up. I answered, "I'm adopting him."

"No way. This is a detective agency not a day care center," Dad replied with the utmost tone of fatherly disapproval. But I didn't care, actually he just made me more determined.

Who was it that spent all our money drinking and gambling? Who was it that that spent hours watching some random idol on tv everyday? Who was a useless good-for-nothing detective that acted haughty but didn't seem to have the deduction skills to back it up? My dad, that's who. Now then, who is it that goes out shopping every day and spends countless hours cooking and cleaning while he sits around on his lazy bum? That's right me, I practically run this household so I think I have every right to adopt a little kid if I feel like it!

"Now listen here!" I shouted. I guess... I kinda snapped, "I am sick and tired of putting up with all your crap! I'm leaving!"

"What?" That surprised him, "No, you can't go... who will cook dinner?"

"Goodbye!" I turned and left, slamming the door behind me. I'd have to come get my stuff later, there was no way I was staying there any longer than I had to when it seemed like he was almost trying to make me angrier.

For a moment -only a moment- I was tempted to go to Shinichi's house. If only so I could take care of it until Shinichi comes back (because he's definitely coming back, he's probably just off on a case or something). It's not like there was anything keeping me from staying there, I knew where the extra key was and everything... it's just it would feel kind of empty to be there without Shinichi.

Instead, I went to the nearby phone booth and called my mother.

"Hello, who is this?"

"Hey Mom, it's me, Ran. I was wondering..." I said, she could probably tell that something had happened from my tone, "Could I move in with you?"

"Why, of course you can," She replied calmly, "Might I ask what's brought this on all of a sudden?"

"Dad and I... we had an argument. There's this little boy I want to adopt, the kid has no where else to go but Dad just won't-"

"A little boy?" She interrupted.

I'd forgotten that I hadn't told her about him yet, so I explained the situation to her as quickly as I could.

"Oh my! That's terrible! Of course the two of you can come and live with me!" Was her immediate response.

"Thanks, you have no idea how much this means to me," I replied, and it was true, I was so glad that she'd agreed to let me move in with her and adopt the little boy that I was literally jumping up and down.

"Don't mention it," She stated plainly, before asking, "So where are the two of you now? I'll come pick you up."

"We're at the phone booth that's just a short walk from Dad's place... it's a bit cold out though, why don't you meet us at the bookstore not too far from here?" It wouldn't be too much of a walk for us and I'd be able to get the boy something he could own besides the clothes on his back.

"That's fine with me, I'll see you in just a moment, deary," She said as she hung up.

Needless to say the boy and I walked to the bookstore and for a moment we just sat around. I pointed him towards the children's section so he could grab a book or manga or something but when I looked away for just a second I found that he'd wandered off. I must've turned the childrens area upside down before I spotted his cowlick poking out from behind a shelf in the adult mystery aisle, reading Sherlock Holmes of all things.

"You understand that book?" I asked.

The boy looked up for a moment then nodded and returned his attention to the pages, "Uh huh."

Oh great, I already have Shinichi who won't stop talking about Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes, now this kid's going to become a mystery otaku too. It's almost like this little boy is trying to replace Shinichi...

"Do you like it?" What a silly question. Of course he liked it, we hadn't been here very long but he was already halfway through the book.

"Yeah, it's really good. I think I may have read it before though..." He trailed off uncertainly and continued reading. He hadn't even looked up from the book that time.

No matter how I thought about it it seemed strange for a boy of his age to have read something like Sherlock Holmes before, but I guess he probably picked it up because it looked familiar... still I don't think it's normal for a primary schooler to be reading stuff like this. That boy must be pretty mature for his age...

"Come to think of it, you need a name," I said, it probably seemed a bit sudden to him, he almost dropped his book. I continued, "I mean it'd be kind of rude of me to just call you 'little boy' all the time."

He blinked, "Uh... sure, that seems like a good idea... did you have something in mind?"

Funny, I think that's the longest thing I've heard him say so far... he doesn't really talk like you'd expect a child to though.

"Yeah... I was thinking... what about 'Conan'?"

"After Sir Arthur Conan Doyle?" He asked.

"Yeah," I replied, "Plus you kind of remind me of him..."

To that he raised an eyebrow, "I remind you of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle?"

"No I meant Shin- Oh Mom's here now! Let's go!"

I could see mom getting out of her car -presumably to say hello- as the boy and I went to the counter to purchase the book that he'd been reading. Naturally we then left the store and went to the car.

"Mom this is the boy I was talking about" I said, gesturing to him even though there was no one else around, then I gestured back to her, " And this is my mother."

My smiled at the young boy, no doubt realizing just how much he resembled Shinichi and assuming that was why I felt almost obligated to adopt him, "It's nice to meet you, my name is Kisaki Eri."

"Nice to meet you too, I'm..." He trailed away for a moment, unsure what to say. Then he gave a confident smile, "I'm Conan."

"Well you're a cute one aren't you?" Mom said, "Come on, get in the car. We can talk more at your new home."

The boy -No Conan nodded, and he and I both got into the car. We didn't talk very much on the way, the atmosphere in the car was somewhat tense. However all that tension seemed to vanish when we finally arrived at our destination.

"This is where we'll be living from now on," I told Conan as Mom opened the door.

"Wow it's a lot cleaner than that other house was..." Conan remarked. Which annoyed me a little bit since I was usually the one who cleaned up the detective agency, but dad always messed it all up again.

"Thank you," Mom replied, probably glad to hear that her house was apparently cleaner than Dad's.

For a moment none of us said anything... there didn't really seem to be anything to say, until Mom spoke up and broke the silence.

"What's that book you've got there?" She asked.

" 'A study in Scarlet' by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle," Conan replied with a broad smile.

"Oh a Sherlock Holmes book?" She raised an eyebrow, "Aren't you a bit too young to be reading things like that?"

"I'd thought so too," I chimed in.

"Normally it should be difficult for a child his age -well at least the age he seems to be to understand a mystery novel... much less one written in the eighteen hundreds," Mom remarked.

"Shinichi did..." I muttered.

"Yes but Shinichi-kun hardly counted as an ordinary boy."

"Ne... Who's 'Shinichi'?" Conan asked, looking at me with a gaze of curiosity.

"A friend of mine," I answered, "He's a detective. He's been busy with a case for a few days now."

"A detective? I'd like to meet him... I think..." Conan said. I got the feeling it probably be interesting if the two of them ever did meet, what with Conan practically being a mini-Shinichi.

"I'm sure you'll meet him at some point."

At this point I must've looked a bit sad or something because Mom changed the subject, "Anyway, we'll have to register Conan-kun for school, he appears to be about six wouldn't you agree Ran?"

"Yeah... that seems about right," I replied, after all I couldn't argue that he seemed to be about that age even though he seemed much smarter than what I would have expected from a six year old... it was more like he should be older, like he was my age. But that would be impossible, there was no way someone my age would be so small.

"Well I'll go ahead and fill out the adoption papers," Mom said stopping me in my train of thought, "Ran, Why don't you take Conan-kun to the park?"

"Sounds like a good idea, maybe he'll make some friends," I replied, I couldn't help but smile at the idea of the little boy surrounded by friends.

Conan liked the idea too. Though when we got to the park he seemed content to just sit on the park bench and watch other kids playing. I was beginning to worry about him a bit when suddenly one of the children that was playing came up to him, it was a little girl.

"Hi, my name is Ayumi, over there are my friends Genta and Mitsuhiko!" She introduced excitedly, "We need another person to play soccer in teams, will you play with us?"

They had been playing for long enough without him that I knew that the girl had probably just noticed him sitting there alone and decided to invite him to play. The two boys she'd been playing with looked a bit jealous that she'd gone out of her way to talk to Conan.

I stole a quick glance at Conan's face, he looked a bit conflicted. Maybe he was trying to figure out whether or not he knew how to play soccer... but after just a bit I could see a faint smile, "Sure, I'd love to play."

"Great! You can be on my team!" The girl -Ayumi- stated energetically, as she grabbed Conan's arm, "What's your name?"

"It's C-Conan," He answered shyly, letting her drag him over to where she'd been playing with her other friends.

I watched them play for a while, I couldn't really hear what they were saying but they looked like they were having a lot of fun -I almost wished I could join in, but that wouldn't really be fair.

Well at least those other boys weren't picking on him, I'd half expected it the way they'd been looking at him when Ayumi was talking to him. I guess I was worried for nothing.

Everything seemed fine so I figured it'd be okay to leave them for long enough to go to the park restroom.

The door was ajar, it was kind of ominous even though that was actually pretty normal for a public restroom. I didn't see anything strange at first but after I'd taken a few steps in...

I screamed.

There laying in front of me on the slightly moist floor was a woman... or more likely her corpse.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew that I should call the police or do something useful but I couldn't help but stand there like a deer in the headlights, staring at her.

In that moment I wished that Shinichi hadn't gone missing at Tropical land. I wished that he was there with me to tell me that it was alright, to calm me down. He should have been there for me.

Like a flash Conan ran in. He knelt down next to the body, checking for a pulse, checking for rigor mortis.

"She's gone..." He said with a look of utmost serious, "She's been dead for at least thirty minutes..."

It occurs to me now that someone his age shouldn't have known that, but at the time I just saw Shinichi in his place as he turned to me.

"Ran, call the police! This is a murder!"


	2. The mystery deepens

**It's nice to see that so many people seem to be liking this story so far, I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint you. Sorry it took me so long, I couldn't use my laptop for a while... but I'll try to be quicker with the next chapter. Or maybe this'll just wind up a monthly story, the chapters are pretty long by my usual standards so that's reasonable enough but I'm not that fond of planning things ahead.  
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**Conan's personality seems a bit strange so far... I can't say I'm entirely happy with how he turned out but at the same time I kinda like this shy calculating Conan, it kinda makes sense too given his circumstances... but enough about that. Also I'm pretty sure the way that I did Conan's placement test isn't the way they really do them, but it seems like a reasonable system and I didn't feel like researching it so yeah...  
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**I hope you enjoy this chapter, whether you do or don't please review at the bottom anyway, it doesn't really take that much effort.**

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**Chapter 2: The mystery deepens (tentative title)**

I remember, when I first woke up, being surprised that I was even alive, but I couldn't remember why that was surprising... or anything else for that matter. That more than anything frightened me.

If I was supposed to be dead, then something must have happened to me before I woke up... something bad. But why couldn't I remember? What had happened that was bad enough that it caused me to lose my memory? I almost didn't want to know.

And Ran... she was so familiar, she didn't seem know me so I probably didn't know her either. That was the most logical conclusion... but then why did I recognize her, why did everything about her seem to strike a chord in my mind, why in the world was she so familiar to me if we were perfect strangers? Maybe I would understand someday.

Everything was so confusing and it was all being thrown at me at once, it wasn't until Ran and I went to the bookstore that I'd finally had the chance to even begin to understand what was happening. There were still plenty of pieces missing -including what had happened to me- but I was at least able to understand my current situation.

I would later come to find that it was much more complicated than I could have ever hoped to imagine at the time... but we'll get to that later, for now let's get back to the story.

I had heard Ran scream and without even thinking ran to see what was the matter. I didn't even blink at the realization that the scream had come from within the girl's bathroom.

There was a woman lying on the ground in a puddle of what I could only assume was her own blood. She was relatively attractive, looking to be in her mid to late twenties, but rather than her features I was more focused on the knife wound in her back. Somehow that didn't scare me as much as it probably should have.

Immediately I set to work. I check for a pulse, there wasn't one... she was definitely dead. Her body was already losing heat and getting a bit stiff, given the temperature of the floor she was laying on I surmised that she had been there for approximately thirty minutes.

"She's gone..." I muttered, "She's been dead for at least thirty minutes now..."

With a wound like that there was no way it could have been an accident... this was definitely a murder.

"Ran, Call the police! This is a murder!" I shouted, with a firm nod she obliged. I couldn't help but think it was strange that she was listening to me when I was so much younger than she was... maybe she'd been about to call them anyway.

It hadn't been all that long before the police had gotten there but I'd wasted no time in finding a witness.

There was an old man who'd been sitting across from the only entrance into the bathroom for several hours now, he'd seen everyone who'd gone in and out during the time he'd sat there... which amounted to two women besides the victim. I gave this information to the police as soon as they arrived, surprising them with the professionalism with which I acted.

The aforementioned suspects were Hitomi Seijou, a short and rather wide woman with a very forgettable face, and Kanzeni Heikin, a thin and fairly mousy looking woman. Both were around the same age as the victim if not slightly older, neither of them really looked like they could be a murderer but there were no other ways that anyone could have entered the restroom to commit the murder (besides a window that only a small child could have possibly gotten through) so it had to be one of them, if not both.

The police tried to keep me away from the crime scene, they kept trying to get me to go play with those other kids I'd been playing with earlier or to just go home, they must've thought it would emotionally scar me or something after all a corpse isn't something that the average child should be seeing.

Even so, I didn't want to go, something about it just excited me, much more so than the idea of playing with anyone my age. The sight of the dead body hadn't bothered me at all, I just wanted to know who the culprit was, but somehow I knew that I wouldn't be satisfied if someone else handed me the answer, I wanted -no I needed to be the one to find the truth. The thrill of the mystery was calling to me.

I watched from a distance as the police searched the park for a weapon, but they didn't seem to be having much luck. It was obvious that the weapon would be a knife, but for all their efforts there didn't seem to be one anywhere nearby meaning that the culprit must've still had it on their person, so rather than looking around the area to see if I might find the weapon myself I decided to observe the suspects themselves instead. I looked on for a while but failed to see anything worth noticing, so I tried to get closer in hopes that would make it easier to find the vital clue I needed.

I hid in a bush (because as I mentioned before the police weren't letting me get close) and watched for a minute or two but didn't really find out anything. A female police officer took the two of them into the men's restroom (because the women's was currently a crime scene and they'd blocked both bathrooms off anyway) presumably to search them for the weapon, only to come out a half hour or so later without having found anything.

However it'd given me just what I was looking for. I wasn't absolutely certain, but if my suspicions were correct then I knew just who had done it and where the weapon was hidden.

I went to tell the police officer -whom I later learned was actually a police inspector by the name Megure Juzo- about the evidence that I'd found but he didn't even listen to me and instead told one of the officers with him to get me away from the crime scene.

As the officer grabbed me I shouted, "But I know which one did it!"

I certainly managed to get their attention, but now if I was wrong then they weren't going to trust me if I did manage to correct my theory afterward, this was all or nothing.

I cleared my throat before speaking, hoping to sound a bit professional.

"Neither of the suspects have left the park so logic stands that the knife used to commit to crime can't have left either, unless it had been handed off to an accomplice somewhere in the park or simply tossed out of the park, neither of those methods would have been very efficient though so naturally if you can't find it around the park then the weapon must be on their person," I paused for a moment to let what I had said sink in, "The lady officer over there couldn't find a knife on either of them though, am I correct in my reasoning so far?"

They looked at me wide eyed, even though everything I'd said had been blatantly obvious. I'd really only bothered asking because it would help me become more confident in my deduction if I was at least correct about what I believed to be obvious.

"That's right..." Megure-keibu replied, "But how did you..."

It was already pretty obvious anyway so I didn't bother answering his question and instead just continued, "When Kanzeni-san was walking I noticed that she was stepping kind of strangely, also there was a different sound whenever the heel of her right foot hit the ground than that of the left. That's because she hid the knife inside the heel of her boot! Kanzeni-san is the culprit!"

The police quickly directed their attention to Kanzeni-san who at that point took off running only to be caught by an officer. They then checked the right boot and found that I'd been correct. Unable to deny that she was the murderer she broke into tears and fell to her knees.

"That's right! I killed her! That useless, ugly woman was my husband's lover and I just couldn't stand it, that's why I did it!" She cried, "It was all I could do to stop him from seeing her!"

And naturally she was arrested so that's that, there's no need for me to go into any further details on it.

Suddenly those kids that I had been playing with earlier emerged from a bush, it seemed a bit strange at first but I guess they must've been curious about what had happened and -like me- couldn't stay away from the excitement. Still it's amazing that they weren't spotted earlier if they were all hiding in the same bush.

"Conan-kun! That was so amazing," The girl, who had told me her name was Ayumi, said cheerfully, her eyes practically sparkling as she continued, "you were just like a detective! How did you figure that out!"

"The pieces were all there, I just kinda put them together," I replied trying not to sound smug or haughty, I could feel my cheeks warming up with blush as I spoke.

"But it's incredible that you were able to figure out that the knife was hidden in her boot just because of the sound it made when she walked!" The smart-looking boy called Mitsuhiko chimed in.

"Yeah! It was awesome!" The largest -Genta- added with a huge grin stretching across his face.

"Oh... thanks..." I said, the warm feeling in my cheeks growing even warmer yet.

They probably thought that I was just being modest or something but for me it was just that simple, the details of the case just sort of made themselves clear to me. I could tell that wasn't normal because even the police who were adults hadn't noticed the clues that had been all too clear to me.

I wasn't normal, that much was clear... and I wasn't sure if it was good or not.

I must've been lost in thought for a moment or two, but the ordinary children in front of me just carried on their conversation on their own during that time I guess.

"We should definitely hang out more often Conan-kun!" Ayumi stated with a tone of the utmost seriousness and excitement.

Her sudden proclamation snapped me out of my train of thought. She wanted to hang out with me more, that would be nice. I couldn't see any reason not to, actually it seemed like it'd be pretty fun.

Was she asking me if I would be friends with her? Friends are people that you just have fun being with... aren't they? I wasn't sure... I couldn't remember having any friends but I was pretty sure that was right.

"Huh? Oh, sure... " I answered, not really sure what to say, "I'd like that."

Ayumi smiled and it seemed like she was about to say something but Ran came up behind me and interrupted, "Sorry Conan-kun, I know you've just made some friends but it's getting pretty late... we should probably be getting home."

"Right..." I sighed, a bit upset that I was parting with my friends so soon after meeting them. Who knew if I would ever see them again, even if I came back to this park there's no guarantee that they'd ever be here at the same time. Well I guess there's the chance I'll get lucky.

I said goodbye to my new friends and began the short walk back 'home' with Ran, along the way I heard her muttering something like 'just like Shinichi'... I don't think she meant to say it out loud though so I didn't say anything, but I'm pretty sure she was talking about me.

I didn't get much sleep that night, not because I was having nightmares after having seen a dead body, but because I was worried. I would be starting school in the morning, and with no memories of my past I didn't know how that was going to go... but I was more worried about Ran than I was about that, she seemed so sad and it was obvious that this detective friend of hers 'Shinichi' being away on a case was the cause.**  
**

And I reminded her of Shinichi. I showed up with no memories after he disappeared... and I remind her of him, not to mention how familiar she is to me. But... I can't possibly be...

Of course not, that would be impossible.

But that's a bit off topic. Point is, I didn't sleep very well, which made me a bit more worried about how my first day at school was going to go. I mean it's only natural for a new student to be nervous... right?

At the beginning of class the teacher (Kobayashi-sensei) started by having me go up to the front of the class and introduced me as she wrote my name on the board, "Alright class, starting today we have a new student please treat him kindly."

"Hello, my name is Kisaki Conan, it's nice to meet you all," I said, bowing my head just a bit politely. Why was I even doing this, my name was already on the board, can't they just read it so I won't be standing up here in front of everyone for so long.

"Nice to meet you Kisaki-kun!" The entire class said in an ill-synced chorus.

"Kisaki-kun if you would please take a seat next to Yoshida-san," Kobayashi-sensei said, allowing me to finally stop standing awkwardly in front of the class.

'Yoshida-san'? I'd been introduced to the class, but they hadn't all been introduced to me, how was I to know who this Yoshida-san was? There weren't any marking on the desk to tell who was who either as far as I could see.

Still I nodded and took a hesitant step forward, assuming that wither Kobayashi-sensei or 'Yoshida-san' would let me know what desk it was I was meant to be sitting in.

Thankfully it was at that point that a young girl hopped up excitedly, I recognized her as 'Ayumi' from the day before, but what she said made me realize that 'Yoshida must be her family name, "Right here, next to me Conan-kun!"

I could feel my cheek muscles moving into a faint smile at the realization that I was in the same class as at least one of my new friends (as I hadn't actually looked at the rest of my classmates and realized that Genta-kun and Mitsuhiko-kun were also there) as I went and sat in my new seat, "You're the girl from yesterday... Ayumi-san wasn't it?"

"You can just call me 'Ayumi'," She replied smiling brightly enough to blind the average introvert.

I gave my best effort to give a casual smile in return, "Alright, then you can just call me 'Conan'."

"Ahem," Kobayashi-sensei cleared her throat before suddenly speaking up, "I know that Kisaki-kun has just arrived but we did have a test planned for today, we'll be taking it as originally planned... Kisaki-kun, just try your best, if you don't know the answers then I won't count off any that you miss, you probably haven't learned this yet."

A sweeping moan rippled though the classroom, my classmates were obviously not expecting to do well on this test, it was probably going to be on something really hard.

Even if she said she wasn't going to count anything wrong for me I was still kind of nervous, what if I got the lowest grade out of the whole class? That would be so embarrassing! I guess I could use my amnesia as an excuse but it's just my personal history that I can't remember everything else is pretty clear. The doctor had told me I was a pretty smart kid... but what if he was just trying to make me feel better about having no memories, what if I actually wasn't that smart? What if didn't know anything on this test!?

The whole class was silent as if in prayer as Sensei passed out the test papers.

I couldn't believe it, this was the test that they'd been so nervous over? It was easy, one might even say 'elementary'. All my worrying had been for nothing, I was sure the others must've felt the same. It must've been five-maybe ten minutes before I finished the test, fairly confident that I'd gotten everything correct. Though no one else seemed to have finished yet.

Nervously I waited another five minutes or so but everyone else was still staring at their papers, scribbling away, or trying to steal a peek at their neighbor's paper. Was I missing something? Had Kobayashi-sensei given me the wrong test? There's no way everyone else could be having so much trouble with such simple kanji and arithmetic. Out of nervous curiosity I cast a glance at Ayumi's paper, the questions looked the same as mine, I stopped looking feeling bad enough for looking as long as I had.

I turned my paper in, which surprised Sensei, apparently she hadn't been expecting anyone to finish this early. I went back to my desk while she started to grade my paper and waited for everyone else to finish.

It only took another ten minutes or so for everyone else to finish up, but that still amounts to a good twenty or so minutes after I'd finished so I couldn't shake the feeling that I'd finished a bit too quickly. Had I been mistaken in thinking it was all easy and it was really difficult? Did I wind up getting everything wrong just because I'd gotten a bit cocky?

After all the tests had been handed in Sensei told us that we could talk among ourselves while she graded out papers. Most of the students immediately got together into their own little social circles, and thankfully my new friends from the previous day gathered around me before I could even start to wonder where I should go.

"Oh, you're those boys from yesterday," I observed aloud, noting the glares they were giving me (probably because they were jealous that I was getting to sit next to Ayumi) as I tried to recall their names, "Mitsuhiko-kun and Genta-kun, right?"

"That's right!" Genta-kun exclaimed, if I'm not mistaken he'd been one of the last students to turn in his test, he doesn't seem to be the sharpest tool in the shed if you know what I mean.

"Why didn't you tell us that you were going to be coming to Teitan Elementary?" The much smarter seeming Mitsuhiko-kun asked with an expression of genuine curiosity.

I wasn't really sure what to say to that, I mean I couldn't just say 'I didn't get out of the hospital until yesterday so I didn't know' so I just stuttered a vague reply, "I kinda didn't know myself..."

I would have said a little more in attempt to satisfy their curiosity, but Ayumi soon interrupted me, "You didn't? Why's that?"

I didn't want to tell them about my amnesia, I didn't need them to find any more reason to think that I was weird than they already had. They might shun me, or maybe they'd make fun of me, 'oh look there's that freaky smart kid, he has amnesia and doesn't know anything! He's also named after some dead British guy! Let's throw a rock at him or something!' Yeah... I definitely didn't want people to start heckling me with stupid things like that.

I made up a cover story pretty quickly, it was even mostly true, "Well I just got here yesterday... My mom didn't know that I was coming to live with her until then, she was actually making all the arrangements while I was at the park yesterday."

"Why did you move here anyway?" Mitsuhiko-kun asked, even going as far as to provide evidence, "It seems kind of strange that you would just move over night like that, especially if your mom didn't even know you were coming..."

I got the feeling that Mitsuhiko-kun might make a good detective or maybe a police officer someday.

"Oh um... The truth is I..." I mumbled, searching for a good excuse, still determined not to tell them the full truth.

Thankfully Kobayashi-sensei interjects, "Kisaki-kun, if you would come here for a moment please."

"Oh, yes ma'am," I replied, grateful for the excuse to cut the conversation short. Still I approached the desk cautiously, worrying that she's going to tell me that I did horribly on the test and that I need to stay after class or whatever it is they do to bad students here, "Did I mess up on the test or something?"

She looks a bit surprised that I'm so unsure, "No... actually you were the only person in the class to get one hundred percent. I wanted to ask if you'd already learned this at your previous school."

"Um... I'm not really sure, but that test was really easy," I answer. That seemed to confuse her even more.

" you thought it was easy?" She asked, she has a strange look on her face, like she's looking at a puzzle that's missing too many pieces for her to tell what the big picture is.

Hesitantly I nod, "Yeah, I was surprised when you said that no one else got a one hundred on such an easy test."

She thinks for a moment, then says, "If it was really so easy for you then perhaps you need to be placed in a higher grade."

I immediately didn't like the sound of that. I'd just made friends and she wanted to place me in a higher grade level where everyone would look down on me for being younger than them and it would be almost impossible for me to make any friends at all.

"Do I have to?" I squeaked, the image of myself sitting alone at a table in the cafeteria while bigger kids sat at the others tables and talked amongst themselves fervently flashed in my mind.

"Well as a teacher I have an obligation to make sure that everyone is learning at the right level," Kobayashi-sensei said giving me a weak smile as if to say that she understood how I felt, "So if you're ahead of the rest of the class then you may need to be place on a higher level."

I gave a sigh as I realized that there wasn't anything that I say to argue with that. Sure I could say I didn't want to move up a grade level, but if I wasn't going to learn anything at this level then she's right, moving up is the clear course of action here.

I nodded to show that even if I wasn't particularly happy about it I agreed that it was the most logical course of action.

"It should be fine for you to stay in this class for now, but you should probably take a placement test as soon as possible," She says, after a moment adding , "Would tomorrow be okay?"

"…I guess so," I mutter without much conviction. She's right though, it's better if I take this placement test right away before I can get too attached to my new friends.

After that I went back and continued to talk with Ayumi and the rest, but I distanced myself a bit because I knew that I probably wouldn't be their classmate much longer... they didn't seem to think I was acting strange or anything though.

When I went home Ran-neechan and Okaa-san asked me about how my day was so I told them that the teacher thought that I was really smart and was going to make me take a placement test because they might need to move me up to the next grade level, they were really excited for me. It made me feel like this might not entirely be a bad thing, still I had trouble sleeping.

I was plagued by the question of who I was and what exactly had caused me to lose my memory once again. Why did I lose my memory? What's my real name? Why does it seem like I'm so much smarter than I should be? And... what's my connection to 'Shinichi'?

Needless to say I still couldn't answer any of those questions by the next morning.

When I got to class in the morning I was taken to a room with no one else in it but a teacher that was supposed to watch me to make sure that I didn't cheat.

She handed me a test and a pencil and told me to get started, it must've been between thirty and forty-five minutes when I finished it but it felt like it'd taken a lot longer than that. She -like Kobayashi-sensei- was surprised at my speed, but took the paper with a poker faced smile and told me to go sit down while she graded it.

I found entertainment in watching the edge of her smile twitch as she got near the end of the test.

Soon she handed me another test to take, I assumed that this was at a higher grade level because the questions were more difficult, though only just. I finished it just as quickly and pretty soon she was grading it looking somewhat impressed when she handed me the next test.

This third test was harder, and by this point I was tempted to just start trying to miss questions so that this could end already, which I did but I found myself not knowing how to answer enough of them that it probably didn't make much of a difference which ones I faked not knowing and which ones I just guessed on.

She didn't give me another test after that and I was allowed to return to class for the rest of the day (which wasn't very long) knowing that I probably wouldn't be with that class the next day.


	3. Kudo Shinichi

**hahahahaha it occurs to me now that I forgot to take the "tentative title" out of last chapter's title... err... opps. I'm not gonna go back and edit the chapter though, too much effort.  
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**This chapter is pretty short but a lot of stuff happens, sorry to anyone who was expecting Eri's perspective it's back to Ran. The POV will just kinda be whoever the chapter fits most.**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed on the previous chapter. I hope you enjoy this chapter as well, whether you do or don't please review at the bottom anyway, it doesn't really take that much effort.**

* * *

**Chapter 3: Kudo Shinichi**

The way that Conan had solved that case had surprised me... and yet somehow it had seemed like it was only fitting.

I guess it was just me drawing unnecessary parallels, making him seem even closer to

Shinichi than he already was in my mind, but it's not like there wasn't any basis to that line of thinking. His interest in Sherlock Holmes, his apparent skill with solving mysteries, his strange intelligence... the more I learned about Conan the more it seemed like he was some kind of miniaturized Shinichi.

I've mentioned before that even so early on I'd began to suspect that Conan might have actually been Shinichi after somehow being shrunk. Logically it made sense but I never really believed that it could have been true, after all it's impossible for a teenager to suddenly become a child, it would have been silly of me to think otherwise.

I really should have been more suspicious of him. I should have looked into it more.

That's what Shinichi would have done if he were in my position... but I'm not Shinichi, so even when I learned that Conan was going to take a placement test and probably move up to another grade level I didn't think anything strange of it. I'm so stupid!

Still, I probably should have known something was strange when our homeroom teacher announced that there was going to be a new student in our class.

I watched in disbelief as Kyoshi-sensei wrote his name on the board and had him stand in front of the rest of the class to introduce himself.

There was a low rumble as the members of the class began to talk amongst themselves, asking each other if this was some kind of joke, placing bets on how long Conan-kun would last in high school before running home to his mother. Sensei silenced them all with a simple 'ahem'.

"Hello my name is Kisaki Conan," He said, I could tell from the forced look of his smile that he was nervous as he continued, "It's nice to meet all of you."

"Kisaki-kun may be younger than all of you but he got astounding results on his placement test yesterday, it was decided that he is every bit as intelligent as a high school student so he's been placed in our class," Kiyoshi-sensei explained, for good measure she added, "Please treat him well."

There was a murmured greeting as my classmates continued to joke about how there was no way that a 'runt like him' could possibly make it in high school and that he should go back to primary school where he belonged. I found it really irritating that they were talking about him almost as if he weren't even in the room, I had just about had it and was going to stand up for him when Kiyoshi-sensei spoke up again.

Kiyoshi-sensei pointed at the desk next to mine, "if you would please sit next to Mouri-san."

His eyes seem to light up as they meet mine and he makes his way to the desk that he had been directed to, I guess he was glad that there would be at least one person he knew in high school with him even if there was no one his age. When he sat down he glanced at me with a smile that hit me with a sense of deja vu, for a moment it was almost like I was seeing Shinichi instead of Conan.

He had the same interests as Shinichi, he looked like Shinichi, he smiled like Shinichi, and... he was sitting in Shinichi's desk.

I almost protested that Conan couldn't sit in that desk because then Shinichi wouldn't have anywhere to sit if he came back... but there really were no other seats, and he must've been really happy to be sitting next to someone he already knew so I didn't mention it but it still bugged me for the rest of class.

Every other class before lunch he also wound up being in (by that point I'd assumed that whoever arranged his schedule knew that I was his 'sister' and was doing it on purpose), and in each one for one reason or another he wound up taking the seat that would have belonged to Shinichi. I didn't like it, but it's not like it was a problem when Shinichi couldn't be bothered to even call to let me know that he hadn't just completely vanished off the face of the Earth.

When it finally came to be lunch time Conan followed me to the lunch room and as I sat down he gave a shy smile, "I can sit with you... right?"

"Of course you can Conan-kun," I replied with a smile.

"What? You're going to let the little boy genius sit with us?" Sonoko asked, sounding as if the very thought of the young boy sitting with us made her sick to her stomach. Though she wouldn't have objected at all had the new student been an attractive boy around our age.

Conan frowned a little bit, but he's so shy that he probably never would have said anything. I let out a sigh, "Don't pick on him Sonoko. Conan-kun is the boy I was telling you about, the one that Mom and I adopted."

"Oh really?" Sonoko said with a snicker, "He looks so much like your husband I was beginning to think he might be your son."

"Husband?" Conan asked confusedly.

"Sonoko!" I shouted, I could feel a bit of blush creeping across my face. It wasn't that hard to guess who she was talking about but I still didn't agree. Who would marry a detective otaku that just up and disappears without even calling?

"Oh come on, you and Shinichi-kun both obviously luuuurrrrvvve each other!"Sonoko kept smiling as she batted her eyelashes and made smooching noises, she probably thought that my blushing was just proving her point.

"It's not like that and you know it Sonoko!" I exclaimed. The only thing Shinichi and I ever did that could be considered a romantic activity would be that day at Tropical Land, and we both know how that ended, he ditched me, there is clearly no love between Shinichi and me.

"You know you L-O-V-E him~" Sonoko grinned. I didn't bother to argue this time, she probably would have kept insisting no matter what I said.

Conan looked towards me, cocking his head a bit as he asked, "You liked Shinichi-san?"

"W- well we were friends so I didn't hate him or anything, but I totally wasn't in love with him or anything!" I stuttered in reply.

"She's lying Conan-kun, they were practically married," Sonoko argued, changing to a dramatic tone as she gestured towards Conan, "But now he's just up and disappeared leaving his loving wife to look after their child all alone!"

"He disappeared?" Conan asked, there was a faint seriousness hiding beneath the casualness of his tone.

"He's probably just off on a case or something," I answered, justifying his disappearance if only so I myself might stop worrying about him so much, "He'll solve it in no time flat and come back as if he were never even gone."

"But even for cases he's never been gone this long right? Something could have happened to him with all those murders that pop up wherever he goes." Sonoko said flippantly, I could tell she meant it as a joke but for all I know it could have been true.

What if something had happened to him? It's not impossible. He runs into murders by coincidence nearly every week, these things happen all the time... he might have finally found a case that was too much for just a high schooler to take care of. Maybe he could have bitten off more that he could chew...

"I mean he hasn't even called or anything, something could have happened and you'd never know." Sonoko continued, causing me to worry even more because it was true. If something had happened, I'd never know until it was too late.

"How long has it been since he disappeared?" Conan asked, almost as if he were going to try to find Shinichi and bring him back to me.

"The last time I saw him was the day I found you... That would be six days ago." It didn't feel like it had been that long, and yet it had.

"Six days?" Conan said, his head tilting a bit in confusion, "I only remember three."

"You were asleep in the hospital for three days," I explained, not bothering to go into much detail, after all even if he's a genius he's still just a kid.

"Oh. I didn't know that..." He trailed off, making a contemplative expression as though he thought he might have just discovered a vital clue in his own mystery.

Sonoko seemed a bit uneasy for some reason and quickly changed the subject, "Anyway, enough about Shinichi-kun, he's just a silly detective otaku anyway. I hear that Koizumi-kun in class nine is single, I ran into him in the hallway this morning and he is soooooo handsome! I think he might totally be my soulmate!"

Honestly she'd said similar things about at least four other guys so I didn't really pay much attention as she described his 'luscious chestnut hair' and any number of other features her new crush had, I'm sure you'll appreciate me not transcribing her full monologue word for word.

The rest of the school day after that was normal, Conan was still in all my classes and of course everyone made a big deal about there being a six year old in high school but aside from that nothing really worth noting happened.

I decided that I would go to Shinichi's house after school, to see if maybe Shinichi had come by and left a note for me telling me where he's been, and if not then just to clean the place up since it was sure to be getting dusty by now. Conan wanted to come with me, apparently he was still interested in figuring out more about Shinichi.

As we approached the door of the house there was a strange woman standing there. She looked to be in her early twenties with auburn hair and sharp blue eyes, altogether she was very good looking it almost made me jealous to see such a woman standing outside Shinichi's house.

"Are you a friend of Kudo Shinichi?" She asked, giving me a curious glance.

"That's right," I replied, "I'm his friend, Mouri Ran. Who are you?"

The girl seemed to think for a moment, "A client. I'd come to ask for Kudo-kun's help in solving a case, but he doesn't seem to be around. Have you seen him recently?"

"No. He hasn't been coming to school or anything," I replied honestly, "I think he must be away on a case already. If you give me your phone number I can get him to call you the next time I see him..."

"That won't be necessary..." She replied, a faint smile seemed to form on her face but it may have just been my imagination, "I'll just come by again some other time."

With that she walked past me and out the front gate without saying another word.

"What a strange woman..." Conan muttered under his breath, "She didn't look particularly troubled, I wonder what kind of case she had for Shinichi-san..."

Conan and I chatted a bit as we cleaned the house but it was mostly just smalltalk. After a few hours we'd finished and went home, it was pretty late by that point so I fixed a quick dinner and put Conan to bed. Mom and I talked for awhile as I did the dishes.

"Conan-kun is in all my classes now, it's amazing!" I exclaimed, though making sure to keep quiet enough that Conan wouldn't be able to hear from his room.

"Being his guardian they told me about his placement test results..." Mom said, her expression was odd as she continued, "Apparently, he's smart enough that he could have been moved to college but they decided to go with high school because of his circumstances."

College? That can't be right. Sure, Conan's smart but he can't possibly be that smart... can he?

"No way... That's ridiculous!" I reply, my voice nearing a shout out of sheer disbelief, "How can someone so young be so smart?"

She gives me an apprehensive nod, "There's certainly something strange about that boy."

"Everything's strange about him," I agree.

"That's true. No one seems to be looking for him even though he was lost, he's smarter than someone his age should be, he solved that murder the two of you ran into at the park the other day, and he looks just like Shinichi-kun. I wonder just who he could be..." She replied, summing up just about every unusual thing that we knew about the peculiar circumstances surrounding the boy.

I felt as though she has missed something, an important clue to finding out exactly why he was so strange... and maybe who he was before he lost his memory. I paused for a moment trying to figure out what that integral clue could possibly be. I tried to think like a detective -like Shinichi.

That's when it hit me.

"He acts kind of like Shinichi too... not always, but every now and then."

"He does?" Mom says, looking somewhat surprised, "I hadn't noticed at all."

I hesitate, "Yeah... It's like he's Shinichi from back when we were younger, only... he's smarter than Shinichi was back then and doesn't know who I am."

"Are you sure you aren't just imagining things because you miss Shinichi-kun?" She replies.

For a few seconds I wonder about it. Is he really like Shinichi in any way besides his appearance and above normal intelligence, or am I just turning him into Shinichi in my mind because I miss him?

No, I can't have imagined it! The Sherlock Holmes book, the interest he took in solving that case -not to mention the efficiency... call it intuition if you'd like but I just had this nagging sense that there was some kind of connection between Conan and Shinichi, something huge.

"O-of course not..." I stuttered, getting a bit too emotional in my reply, "W-why would I miss a no good detective otaku like him!"

After that Mom and I continued to talk for awhile, but neither of us mentioned Conan or Shinichi again for the rest of the night.


End file.
